Behind the scenes at the HRC/LOGO presidential forum...

Almost live. I'm getting settled into the press area at The Production Group Studios where the  The Visible Vote '08: A Presidential Forum, put together by HRC and LOGO. They have us pretty squeezed into a dark room (surrounded by black curtains; it's sort of like being in a vampire's chamber.

I was late getting to the venue for the security check, so they had to go through all my bags. I was graciously greeted by Chris Barron and Hilary Rosen and grabbed a bit to eat. On a four hour flight, all they gave us was a bag of pretzels. Thanks, AirTran. I also spoke briefly to one of tonight's questioners, Jonathan Capehart of the WaPo.

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Karen Ocamb, news editor for IN Los Angeles magazine, just dropped by my table (she's the LGBT pool reporter tonight) and had a few quotes from folks here:

Actress Jane Lynch: she's leaning towards Edwards but could go for Obama. "We've come a long way since 2000. It's ironic that they put targets on gay backs, but that ultimately speeded up the process toward marriage equality."

Andy Tobias, DNC treasurer: "I am enthusiastically neutral."

Phill Wilson, Black AIDS Institute: "I am for whoever has the best AIDS answer."

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I was interviewed by Mary Breslauer for HRC's satellite radio program The Agenda, and was asked about the role of blogs in this election cycle, what issues are of importance to readers, and making note that this forum is being extremely well-covered by the MSM. She plans to ask them what they are looking for. Some of the MSM folks that I recognized so far, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Candy Crowley of CNN. Ah, Arianna Huffington just walked by. There's some dude from Faux News here, but I don't recognize him.

We can see the set for the forum on the big screen TVs now. There are a few comfy chairs with a very small audience that was warmed-up/prepped in an preview show (not on the air). The gentleman doing the warm-up was telling the studio audience that "This is a little like being in a Broadway show...if you see or hear something you like, feel free to clap." Hoo-boy.